Viktunds
Background In a time long passed, Viktunds were once humans, having their own Victorian-era society. They had access to firearms and medicine, and were living prosperous lives with strong relations with their neighbours, some of them being incredibly powerful. Viktor, the nation Viktunds are from, was a very mercantile nation that was maintaining good relations with everyone and which was located in the middle of powerful nations that were at peace. Of course, all good things eventually have an end, and for Viktunds, that end was when a wave of pure darkness started appearing on their continent, devouring everything in its wake. When the Viktund leaders found that out, they devised a way to survive the Darkness. Through forbidden knowledge, magic and ritual, they turned their capital city into a literal necropolis, turning all of its inhabitants to undead, then put them through a form of hibernation, hoping to hibernate until the Darkness would disappear. To know when it was safe to reappear, they built a trial of sorts at the top of their necropolis, which people would eventually find, and by achieving it, it would wake them up, reviving their society. What they had not planned for was that the Void Lords would take their little kingdom and put it in a new land, far away from the Darkness that still, to this date, lingers on that continent. They were woken up by adventurers and found themselves in a strange land, with most of their libraries rotten away, and thus the secrets to reverting back lost to time. Of course, one would think dying and being resurrected would be a way, but even a resurrected Viktund is only partially human; most of its humanity had been stripped away by the ritual, they cannot truly achieve humanhood again. Although being stuck as Undead, and without the whole kingdom there, their capital still counts hundreds of thousand inhabitants, although not all of them are awake yet. Physical Description Through tradition, culture and with the help of servants, Viktunds managed to keep their body unrotten through the passing of time. Black Skeletons maintained their form through ointments, which are still available to be carried about. Thus, Viktunds look like very pale humans with white hair and completely white eyes. Although maintained through ointments, most Viktunds have thickened skin due to the passing of time, making them more resilient to blows. Society Viktund society is egalitarian; Gender doesn’t affect one’s standing. While wealth used to be what made one have higher standing when they were living, as undead, they respect spellcasters more, especially the divine kind. Divine spellcasting is what made them who they are and is also what keeps their form intact (negative energy). Of course, the same can be achieved through arcane spellcasting, but divine is easier and more aligned with their culture. They hope that through achieving enough worship towards their main divinity, they might unlock the key to restoring their race to what it once was. Of course, that’s the main part of the society, but there’s a hidden society within their own that thoroughly revel in being undead and thus their hierarchy is built a bit differently. While being a minority, they have strong ties with the Viktund leader, a Great Wyrm Sovereign Dracolich that goes by the name of Waage. Relations Although only a recent addition to the Dark Horizon world, their mercantile nature makes them neutral with most faction and make them willing to trade and exchange, especially since they try to get knowledge and favors. That said, their undead nature makes them be despised by most judgmental races such as Dwarves and Halflings, but they have to qualms with them, so long as they do not cause trouble. That said, they just cannot tolerate Cursed Ones, as they blame them for what happened to their original world. They won’t go out of their way to attack them, but they will refuse to trade with them and work with them, even sometimes when under dire circumstances. That said, some of them are able to go passed that and work with them, but they can never truly trust them. Alignment and religion While Viktunds used to worship Abadar when they were living, most of them abandoned that worship and turned towards more undead-favorable gods. The main worship of Viktor is Arazni, the Harlot Queen. Other deities worshiped by Viktunds are Lorcan, Corosbel, Llamolaek, Nyarlathotep and Yig. While many Viktunds have embraced their Undead nature and turned towards pure evil, most Viktunds are more neutral than anything. Their nature hasn’t affected their minds overly so and thus they can be about any alignments, but rarely are they good, as positive energy doesn’t seem appealing to them. Adventurers After spending so many centuries hibernating, many Viktunds turn towards the adventuring life to discover what the world has to offer, and maybe even discover ways to help out their nation. Because of their once mercantile nature, Viktunds are more often taking the lead in groups, either through diplomacy or intimidation, and they also make excellent frontliners due to their undead attributes and stronger bodies. Of course, many of them embrace the life of clerichood as the benefits of divine spellcasting are too great to be ignored, but again, many go towards arcane spellcasting for the same reasons. Names While Viktunds are from a Victorian-like era, their society is very akin to the germanic culture and thus most names are typically German-like. Male names: Peter, Jacob, Paul, Heiner, Alwin, Klemens, Erik, Eckardt, Detlev, Volker. Female names: Bianka, Augusta, Petra, Karin, Finnja, Lotte, Cathrin, Hanne, Elsha. Standard Racial Traits * Type: Viktunds have the Undead type with the Viktund subtype. (16 RP) * Size: Viktunds are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size. (0 RP) * Base Speed: Viktunds have a base speed of 30 ft. (0 RP) * Weakness (-1 RP): Viktunds have stronger bodies due to the unholy magic animating their bodies. They also have a more charismatic nature due to their mercantile nature. That said, the terrible choices they’ve made in life made them undead, and thus they have yet to wisen up from that decision. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Charisma, -4 Wisdom Note: When in a point buy, the constitution score must be at 10 and cannot be changed. * Language: Standard (0 RP): Viktunds begin play speaking with Common and Necril. Viktunds with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Elven, Dwarven, Abyssal, Infernal, Treant, Terran, Undercommon. * Fire Vulnerability (-2 RP): Since Viktunds have lived for so long in a cold place and are mostly dried up, their body is much more sensitive to heat forms. Thus, they take 50% extra damage from fire. * Light Sensitivity (-1 RP): Due to being stuck inside a dark place for so long, their eyes are much more sensitive than normal to light. Thus, Viktunds are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light. * Cold Resistance (1 RP): Viktunds, being Undead that lived in a cold necropolis for so long, possess cold resistance 5. * Improved Natural Armor (1 RP): Viktunds have a thicker skin, gaining a +1 natural armor bonus. * Deathless (0 RP): Viktunds that die cannot be brought back through raise dead and reincarnate, but resurrection and true resurrection can affect them. If any of those two spells are cast on a Viktund, they are brought back as a Human with the special subtype (Viktund) along with the (Human) subtype. They do not gain any bonus to their attributes when resurrected that way and do not gain the Skilled or Bonus Feat traits Humans typically possess. If they wish to be turned back into a normal undead Viktund, they must return to their capital and go through a special and lengthy ritual only available to humanoid (Viktund) creatures that allows them to be turned back to Undead by spending 1000 gp and doing this 1-week-long ritual. Note: Abominations cannot go through this ritual if they take the Viktund subtype, nor can anyone with any of the Heritage feats. * Undead traits ** Undead have no Constitution score. Undead use their Charisma score in place of their Constitution score when calculating hit points, Fortitude saves, and any special ability that relies on Constitution (such as when calculating a breath weapon’s DC). ** Undead have the darkvision 60 feet racial trait. ** Undead are immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms). ** Undead are immune to bleed damage, death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning. ** Undead are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain, and are immune to damage to physical ability scores (Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength), as well as to exhaustion and fatigue effects. ** Undead are harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy. An undead creature with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality. ** Undead are immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). ** Undead do not risk death from massive damage, but are immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points or fewer. ** Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep, unless they want to gain some beneficial effect from one of these activities. This means that an undead creature can drink potions to benefit from their effects and can sleep in order to regain spells, but neither of these activities is required to survive or stay in good health. Category:Race